"Ahriman!!!"
Feeling the furious psychic assault, Yvraine's face went pale. But in that instant, a towering figure stepped directly in front of her and struck out with a backhand blow.
The psychic blast, powerful enough to tear the very earth asunder, was shattered into nothingness. Only then did Zhou Ye look up.
Appearing in the sky was none other than the chosen champion of Tzeentch, the former First Captain of the Thousand Sons, Ahriman. Barring the Primarchs, he was arguably the most powerful psyker in the galaxy. Dealing with such an entity gave Zhou Ye a headache. One only had to look at Mephiston's destructive capability to understand how terrifying these individuals were, and Ahriman's psychic might was even greater. Only Magnus, now a Daemon Primarch, could definitively overpower him. Confronting a being of such pure, destructive force was a bit of a nuisance for Zhou Ye.
With Ahriman's arrival, nine Lords of Change and a countless host of Tzeentchian daemons descended from the sky. In a flash, the Empyrean was filled with blue whispers.
Fortunately, no one here was afraid.
Zhou Ye was now immensely grateful that he had built his palace far from any hive city. Before him was a vast, open plaza, typically used for assembling and drilling his armies.
But just as Zhou Ye was nursing his budding headache, Ahriman, in the sky above, wore an expression of pure, unadulterated confusion.
The last time, in the Webway, he had been tricked by Yvraine. Although she had resurrected his brothers, she had immediately cast them into a chaotic Warp storm. In that moment, Ahriman had cried like a grot who'd had his toe stepped on.
Having suffered such a humiliation, Ahriman was consumed by rage. He journeyed into Tzeentch's Crystal Labyrinth, searching high and low, even enlisting the help of Kairos Fateweaver, all to pinpoint the location of Yvraine and her Ynnari.
To his pleasant surprise, he soon received a directive from the Lord of Change himself. The message was clear: after the Great Rift opened, Khorne would conduct a bloody ritual. His goal was to drag an entire planet into the Warp. Yvraine would be on that planet. To ensure the mission's success, Tzeentch had even generously dispatched nine hosts of his daemons.
This struck Ahriman as strange, but he suppressed his doubts for the sake of revenge. As long as he could find Yvraine and her so-called Ynnari, he could drag them all out and kill them. As it turned out, Tzeentch had not deceived him; everything he said was true. The thought of the woman who had desecrated his brothers trembling before him brought a look of immense joy to Ahriman's face.
But… why was there a Primarch here?
Since when did the Imperium have another Primarch? And one who had just casually shattered his earth-shattering psychic blast? This definitely wasn't Guilliman, that psychic dullard. In that instant, Ahriman had a very bad feeling.
He had a hunch that he might, possibly, perhaps, have been screwed over by Tzeentch.
This was precisely why, among those who fell to Chaos, siding with Tzeentch was the worst value proposition. For the sake of change, they would frequently sell out their own allies.
But before he could say anything, from within the Warp…
"KILL!!!"
A furious roar echoed across the heavens. It was the enraged bellow of the Blood God. The residual Khornate energy in space rained down upon the ground, and another blood-red spatial rift tore open across the sky.
"Blood for the Blood God! Skulls for the Skull Throne!!!"
With a war cry that echoed eighty-eight times over, twenty-four Bloodthirsters leading eighty-eight armies of Bloodletters charged out. The ritual had been too severely disrupted. The eighty-eight Bloodthirsters and eight hundred and eighty-eight daemon legions Khorne had prepared were mostly blocked off; only this many could make it through.
Khorne's original plan had been to drag the entire planet into the Warp and let his legions slaughter to their hearts' content. This would force the Primarch to submit to him. After the painful lesson from his failure with Rogal Dorn, Khorne knew that one could not forcibly corrupt a Primarch. Nurgle's perfect demonstration had only reinforced this. So, this time, Khorne had made ample preparations. Who could have known the plan would be ruined like this?
While his grand maneuver was bound to stir up a storm in the Warp and be noticed by the others, the fact that they were so well-prepared meant they must have known beforehand. So, who could have seen it coming?
First, rule out Slaanesh. That androgynous creature only cared about immediate pleasure.
Next, rule out the Cursed One. That entity was currently bound to the Golden Throne and could not freely move through the Warp or project his power.
Nurgle generally didn't concern himself with Khorne's affairs.
That left only one possibility—Tzeentch!!!
And so, with a world-shaking roar, the twenty-four Bloodthirsters completely ignored the human armies. Carrying the unbridled fury of the Blood God, they charged straight through Zhou Ye's hail of gunfire and slammed into the daemonic legions of Tzeentch.
Before the stunned gazes of all present, a chaotic melee instantly erupted!!!
"All forces, assist the legions of Tzeentch! Attack the armies of Khorne!!!" Zhou Ye ordered, taking a deep breath. Honestly, the numbers were terrifying. During the War in the Webway, the Custodes had deployed four thousand of their golden bananas and lost half of them, though most, like then, died of exhaustion. His own garrison force on the planet numbered only around twenty to thirty thousand Astartes, supported by about a million auxilia.
But the Tzeentchian army was comparatively small—just nine Lords of Change and their nine legions. There was no question now; they had to temporarily ally with Tzeentch. What Zhou Ye found slightly odd was that the Tzeentchian legions showed very little aggression towards his own people. In fact, it was so low as to be non-existent.
Almost as if… they were reinforcements?
Regardless, Khorne had to be dealt with first. These things were tough opponents. Khornate daemons possessed high resistance to ranged attacks, often forcing any engagement into close combat. This made wars against Khorne exceptionally brutal and bloody. They definitely had to help Tzeentch.
K-CLACK.
At Zhou Ye's command, the great gates of his fortress swung open.
All sleeping Dreadnoughts were awakened. The Imperial Fist Dreadnought, who had been busy administering punishment, led the charge. Close behind were four more massive Dreadnoughts—a Dark Angel, an Emperor's Child, a Raven Guard, and an Ultramarine. Following them were the ancient veterans Zhou Ye had pulled across time from Istvaan III. All several hundred of them were now clad in Centurion armor.
Next came Zhou Ye's Honor Guard, led by his two Custodes-equivalents. All were clad in artificer power armor and wielded master-crafted weapons. They eschewed Terminator armor; against Khornate foes, melee was often more effective.
Then came the rotational companies from the various Legions stationed on the planet. And upon the towering fortress walls, countless auxiliary troops moved with speed and precision, wheeling massive cannons into position. On the ground below, squadrons of Leman Russ tanks, Hydras, Mastodons, and even Shadowswords rolled forward.
At the same time, a violent tremor shook the palace itself as two cathedrals rose from the ground. Two Emperor-class Titans, nearly a hundred meters tall, strode forward, supported by four Warlord Titans and a hundred more Reaver and Warhound Titans.
In the distant hive city, an emergency mobilization was underway. Nearly the entire populace took up arms, commandeering all manner of transport vehicles and racing toward the battle. Sending ordinary people to face Chaos head-on was obviously unwise, but these citizens had already been preemptively "corrupted" by Zhou Ye's Imaginary energy. They were合格的 cannon fodder. Besides, this was Warhammer. Under what Zhou Ye considered his own high-pressure rule, practically everyone was a soldier.
"By the Emperor!!!"
So when the group of Black Templars, Living Saint Celestine, and Cawl rushed outside, they were greeted by an unbelievably spectacular sight. Space Marines, Astra Militarum, Titan Legions, and Skitarii formed combined arms detachments, and with near-perfect coordination and superior weaponry, they unleashed their fury upon the Khornate host.
For a moment, even the daemon armies of Khorne faltered.
How was this army so completely different from the Imperial forces they usually encountered? Weren't those humans supposed to cower in trenches and behind cover, waiting to be either completely annihilated or saved by a Space Marine decapitation strike, after which the Imperial Guard would follow up? What was this skilled, coordinated advance pushing against them? Wasn't this Warhammer 40k? What kind of Warhammer had we stumbled into?
"All units, prepare for immediate transit! Prioritize reinforcement of Trailblaze!!!" Watching the distant battlefield, Zhou Ye casually issued an order to all his deployed companies, save for the Lamenters. They were currently bogged down in various warzones, but no matter the battle, none was more important than this one. As long as they crushed this Khornate host, retaking those other areas was only a matter of time. After all, more than half of his military strength was out expanding his domain. The moment the Great Rift opened, Zhou Ye had them intentionally disengage, leaving those battlefields to the local Imperial forces. Let them hold for a while; he would reinforce them later. His domain wasn't the Imperium; there would be no "reinforcements arriving in a few decades, only to be redirected to the neighboring system."
As for the situation in orbit…
"Looks like direct bombardment is out…" Zhou Ye looked up at the twisted energies in the sky with some annoyance. Under these conditions, macro-cannons and lance batteries were unreliable. If they were to bombard from orbit, who knew where the warped energies would redirect the shots. Landing in the Warp would be the best-case scenario; more likely, they would detonate on top of their own troops.
ROOOAR!!!
Just then, furious roars echoed from the rift as Heldrakes poured out. These terrifying daemon engines began to dive toward the ground to begin their bombing runs. But they were swiftly intercepted by Valkyrie squadrons and the anti-air network formed by the Titans.
…
"What a magnificent sight!!!"
The group of Black Templars, having just finished painting their new armor, rushed out. They let out cries of awe at the chaotic and grand scale of the free-for-all. Then, they drew their weapons and charged. In this moment, they too had to prove themselves to the Emperor.
Following close behind them were the new Night Lords, also preparing to charge. But a black shadow flashed past, and Curze blocked their path.
"You have not completed your basic training. You are not ready for the battlefield."
Looking at the recruits he had been training in the Memory Battlefield, Curze stopped them without hesitation. In his eyes, these new soldiers had not yet met his standards for basic training. It was too soon for them to enter a real battle.
"We are the knights in the darkness. We are the guardians of justice and law. We shall never falter."
"We choose to die as heroes rather than live to see ourselves become villains."
"We will bring fear and death to the guilty and the heretic, and new life and hope to the people."
"..."
Facing their gene-father, the Night Lords spoke without a trace of hesitation. Looking at their young faces and the do-or-die determination in their eyes, Curze was stunned.
In that brief moment of hesitation, the group of Night Lords rushed past him. They leaped onto the specialized vehicles Zhou Ye had prepared for them, slammed down on the accelerator, and charged into the fray.
"What in the world did you teach them?" Curze said, exasperated, as he watched them disappear in the blink of an eye. He immediately activated his own wargear and followed. This battlefield was no joke. In a war of this intensity, even he, a Primarch, could be in danger.
"The Great Crusade!!!"
Atop the highest spire of the palace, Cawl took a deep breath, then looked at Zhou Ye in a daze. How had this mysterious Primarch, so far from the Imperium, built such a military force? But soon…
"Oh, Emperor. It seems you foresaw this moment, even ten thousand years ago."
Cawl quickly came to a realization. It had to be the Emperor. He had foreseen the Great Betrayal, foreseen his own ascension to the Golden Throne, foreseen the breaking of the Legions. The Solar Auxilia had vanished, with only a token force remaining on Terra. The entire military might of the Imperium had been fractured into mutually independent branches like the Imperial Navy, the Astra Militarum, and the Astartes.
This mysterious Primarch had to be the flame the Emperor had preserved for the Imperium, a savior to appear when the most desperate crisis arrived.
Suddenly…
K-CHAK!!!
Behind Zhou Ye, his two black-and-gold giants simultaneously drew their weapons. They were now completely surrounded by Tzeentchian marines.
---o---